What could possibly be next?

What do you do with a failed politician?In Lafourche Parish, the answer is that you give him a cushy public job and sic him on the parish president.

Michael GormanEditorial Page Editor

What do you do with a failed politician?In Lafourche Parish, the answer is that you give him a cushy public job and sic him on the parish president.That was the plan that put Tommy Lasseigne — onetime parish councilman and failed parish presidential candidate — at the helm of the parish's Legislative Internal Auditor department.Lasseigne, who spent much of his brief term on the council sparring with Parish President Charlotte Randolph and working to sabotage the parish administration, is now the chief watchdog looking over Randolph's shoulder.While people of goodwill can certainly differ on whether the parish needs a person double-checking the parish president, no one of goodwill can think that Lasseigne is the right person for the job.Lasseigne got this job after twice being rebuffed by voters in unsuccessful bids to unseat Randolph — not what anyone of goodwill might call an objective observer. Yet there he is.It's bad enough that the self-serving members of the Parish Council have set the stage for a legislative auditor with a vendetta against the parish president.It's as though these folks have nothing better to do than to expose the parish to scorn and derision by building an automatic conflict into the highest offices in Lafourche.Ah, bet there are more things they have in mind.Apparently, the council is unconvinced that Lasseigne will do his job. Or maybe the members just want to make sure that whatever Lasseigne does, there is still conflict and shenanigans aplenty.So the council a few weeks ago went through the process of designing yet another job, this one a clerk for Mr. Lasseigne. The new clerk would be trusted with overseeing all the parish's federal grant programs.Never mind that the administration already oversees those programs.And never mind that hiring a clerk — to the tune of $48,000 plus benefits and expenses — would be a colossal waste of the taxpayers' money for no reason other than a shameless attempt to embarrass Randolph and the parish administration.And never mind that part of the money to hire the clerk would be taken from the very grants the council purportedly wants to protect, thereby lessening the amount of money that can be spent on the people the grants are supposed to be helping.No, despite these things and more, the council majority was bent on going ahead with this numb-skulled plan to hire yet another person to work against the administration.Then, miraculously, a bit of common sense was injected into the debate.District Attorney Cam Morvant II told the council that the job description for the new clerk post was so poorly written that it would almost assuredly amount to a violation of the Home Rule Charter.That alone has never been enough to dissuade a Parish Council. But it was enough to shake loose the coalition of votes that was supporting the proposal.I guess we should be thankful for small blessings.We should also, though, stay on top of what these folks are doing with our tax money.They think nothing of tossing away tens of thousands of dollars on stupid plans such as this auditor clerk.Fortunately, this latest plot didn't make it far enough for the council to actually hire someone or even to name the person some of its members no doubt had in mind for the job.They would have had to outdo themselves by doing even worse than Lasseigne, but the Parish Council over many years has shown a remarkable capacity to do ever worse than it has already done.I cringe at what might be next on this crowd's to-do list.

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by email at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.